Q&A

Questions from the Wellesley Townsman School Committee Questionnaire

What qualifies you for a seat on the School Committee?

I am a 17 year resident of Wellesley and proud parent of 3 children, 2 who have completed their journey through the Wellesley Public Schools. I have a wealth of experience with the Wellesley school system from the perspective of a parent and a taxpayer, and I have witnessed the changes that have occurred over the past 17 years in the quality of education and the cost to Wellesley taxpayers. I also have much experience with the history and operation of the School Committee as an observer and active public participant in the process. I have a unique perspective on how the Committee works and how it serves the students and the voters.​

How would you vote on the HHU project?

I will only vote for a plan that keeps all three schools (Hardy, Hunnewell, and Upham). These schools are an integral part of the fabric of our neighborhoods. In fact, I would say that the neighborhood schools are the greatest contributors to forming our neighborhoods. The friendships that are forged on the sidewalk and on the playground, between both children and parents, can last a lifetime. The neighborhood schools encourage walking to school, promoting healthy exercise habits and personal responsibility, and much needed fresh air and sunlight in our world of increasing indoor time. I walked all of my children to school every day (Bates!), and it was precious time that I will never forget.

​Keeping and rebuilding all three schools will be expensive, but there are ways that expense can be managed to lessen the blow to taxpayers. We should do further research into the estimates other towns are getting for new schools. We should look at the sizes of the actual schools we are building, do we need to go from a 36,000 sq. ft. building to a 75,000 sq. foot building? Would 60,000 be acceptable? What about Model School designs, where the same design is used on all three sites. This was noted at one MPC meeting to provide significant design savings. There has been minimal discussion about incorporating PAWS into these plans; we need to discuss that further, finding out what residents think in addition to what the administration has said. There were also interesting points brought up at the forum regarding an uptick in millennials looking to move into the suburbs and we need to be careful not to sell ourselves short on space. We have closed schools before and it has not worked in our favor.

What areas/programs do you believe are most in need of improvement within the WPS over the next five years?

The biggest areas of needed improvement (from the School Committee point of view) are in transparency, accountability, and open communication. Making information easy to find, providing data to justify decisions, and communicating openly and actively are essential to the function of the School Committee. I will work to ensure that minutes of meetings and all documents used or referenced during meetings are published promptly to the School Committee website. I will make sure that the results of all surveys, forums, and questionnaires are posted to the website as soon as they are available. I will communicate promptly, openly, and honestly with the public whenever concerns are brought forward. To that end, I hope to make Citizens Speak more of an open dialog between the Committee and the public than it is currently. I also hope to reinstitute the open agenda Community Forums that used to be a regular part of the School Committee’s activities. It is only in an atmosphere of Truth, Accountability, and Open Communication that we can have faith in the functioning of our public institutions.​

If you are elected and are faced with having to make reductions in the school budget, where would you recommend that reductions be made?

I would first want to search for areas where we are spending more than we need to. For example, I recently discovered that we are buying very expensive Apple MacBook laptop computers for all of our staff. It is not clear that such expensive computers are needed. In today’s computing world most applications run inside of “browser” programs like Google Chrome and Firefox. The school uses Google Apps for Education, which is entirely browser based. For these activities, an inexpensive Google Chromebook should be perfectly adequate.​I am also concerned about the number of administrative assistants we have on staff. No company I have ever worked for has had the ratio of administrative assistants to administrators as has the Wellesley Public Schools. In this age of personal computing, administrators should be able to do most of this work for themselves. This may be a vestige from the “old days” that we can no longer afford. I would prefer that we spend our budget dollars on teachers and resources that deliver education directly to the students, which is the point after all.​Those are the kinds of reductions I would look for first before cutting any educational programs.​

What programs would you like to see added?

As many people are aware, my particular area of interest is Performing Arts. But as many people are not aware, we do not have a full Symphony Orchestra. We have separate Band and Orchestra programs, but no Symphony Orchestra that brings them together. This used to be a part of the curriculum, but for some unknown reason it was dropped and there is no sign that it is coming back any time soon. A full Symphony Orchestra would be a great point of pride for the town (think "Music Man" ;^). Lexington has a Symphony Orchestra in the high school, and Weston has 4 Symphony Orchestras across all school levels, so let's at least try to keep up!​I would also like to see a big increase in the availability of “no cut” sports in the Athletic Program. The purpose of the public education system is to provide educational opportunities for all, especially those who would not otherwise have access to them. We don’t have tryouts for our math, science, english, history, or performing arts classes, so why do we have tryouts for the athletic programs? The Superintendent recently declared that Athletics is a “First Class” subject just like any of the other academic programs, so the first thing we need to do is make it universally available just like all of the other programs.

Questions from The Sustainable Wellesley Leadership Team

What is your track record on sustainability, including any particular interests and experience with sustainable ideas and initiatives?

My main experience with sustainability is from my youth in a rural setting in north central Massachusetts. Our family had a large garden that fed half of the neighborhood with fresh vegetables raised using organic farming techniques and no pesticides or fertilizers. I managed a large compost pile that took in yard waste, kitchen refuse, and animal manures and produced a natural fertilizing compost that was spread out and turned under in the fall to prepare the soil for the coming spring planting. We also reduced our dependence on fossil fuels by burning wood in a barrel stove in the basement to heat the floors and use less oil in the furnace. After moving out on my own, I still always had a garden, and made use of vermiculture (worm composting) to compost kitchen waste, paper, and yard refuse, and used the resulting rich compost on my various gardens. In our home in Wellesley, we make extensive use of timer thermostats, light timers, and led light bulbs, and we are active recyclers. We also have an oft-heard saying in our house whenever someone complains that they are cold: "Put on a sweater!!" ;^)

What are your thoughts on sustainability as an issue and opportunity for current and future students in the Wellesley school system?

I think current and future students need to be keenly aware of the impact of their daily habits upon the environment. The recent plastic bag ban is a great step towards reducing the amount of plastic that gets released into our environment. Awareness of personal usage of electronics, electric lights, and fossil fuel burning vehicles is going to become increasingly important to all future generations.

Please describe how you see sustainability fitting into the decision-making process for major school projects, including Hardy, Hunnewell, and Upham.

The rebuilding of the Hardy, Hunnewell, and Upham schools is a great opportunity to incorporate sustainability into our local infrastructure. Roof systems that cool in the summertime will reduce electricity usage, window systems that reflect heat in the summer and retain heat in the winter will reduce our air conditioning and heating costs, and open floor plans with natural lighting will reduce the need for artificial lighting.